Thursday, 14 February 2013

Ruffle Heart Tshirt for Valentine's Day

I have actually been feeling extremely bah humbug about Valentine's Day this year. It is the first time I have been single in 5 years so I was just not at all feeling it. However, Leyla's nursery asked that all of the children wear something pink to celebrate. As soon as I heard that, I knew I had to make something for her to wear. I ummed and aahed for a while over what to make her but I finally decided on this simple little ruffle heart tshirt. It was so easy to make and turned out so cute.

I made this lovely ruffle heart tshirt using one plain tshirt in her size and a pair of leggings that I bought because I fell in love with the gorgeous polka dot pattern. You can use any knit (aka tshirt material) to make this.

First things first, you will need to trace a heart shape onto your plain tshirt. I made myself a template heart out of a piece of cardboard and just drew around that in the middle of the tshirt.

Next, you need to make your ruffle. Cut ½" strips of knit material. You don't need to finish the edges since knit material does not fray. If you are using small strips of knit, you will need to stitch them together to make one long strip. Lay the short ends of two strips together, right sides facing in. Stitch across the short ends with a straight stitch then a zigzag. Trim seam allowances. Open all of your strips out to get your long strip. Set your sewing machine to its highest tension setting and longest stitch setting. Sew a straight line right down the middle of your long strip, making sure NOT to backstitch at the beginning and end of your stitch line. Your strip should start to automatically ruffle as it goes through the sewing machine. You can adjust the ruffle if needs be by pulling gently on the bobbin thread.

Now you will need to take your ruffle and pin it around the heart you previously drew onto your tshirt. I laid the middle line of stitching on top of the pencil line to make sure it was not visible once sewn down. If you use washable fabric marker then this is not a major issue but I couldn't find mine so had to use a pencil instead. Stitch the ruffle down, following the middle line you stitched in the previous step. I just stitched right on top of it. You can unpick the first row of stitching at this point but I didn't bother.

Stitch a line of straight stitch across the bottom short edge of your ruffle, just to neaten things a little and make sure the ends are not flapping about.

Aaand your done. Wasn't that easy :)

Now go and make one quick for Valentine's Day. You've just about got time!